Why I'm hesitating to switch to D

[Walter Bright]

On 6/30/2011 1:26 AM, KennyTM~ wrote:
> Yes it is supported by Sphinx with the :ref:`target` syntax.

Take a look at this:

http://sphinx.pocoo.org/rest.html#tables

+------------------------+------------+----------+----------+
| Header row, column 1   | Header 2   | Header 3 | Header 4 |
| (header rows optional) |            |          |          |
+========================+============+==========+==========+
| body row 1, column 1   | column 2   | column 3 | column 4 |
+------------------------+------------+----------+----------+
| body row 2             | ...        | ...      |          |
+------------------------+------------+----------+----------+


I originally did think about doing this for tables in Ddoc. But although it 
looks reasonable, it is unbearably tedious to actually have to type in a complex 
table like this, and even worse to try and change such a table. Have you ever 
tried it? I have. Awful.

Try writing 50 different tables that way.



Next, look at:

http://sphinx.pocoo.org/rest.html#sections

•# with overline, for parts
•* with overline, for chapters
•=, for sections
•-, for subsections
•^, for subsubsections
•", for paragraphs

I challenge anyone to remember this table. Heck, I can't even remember the C 
operator precedence table 100%.



And:

http://sphinx.pocoo.org/rest.html#external-links

.. _a link: http://example.com/

is that really better than:

    $(LINK2 http://example.com/, a link)

?



Sphinx is a large and complex markup system that is arguably as much to learn as 
HTML is - and I still need to learn HTML. Everything in Sphinx seems to have a 
special syntax, while Ddoc has a single syntax.

Sphinx has some nice things, like the automatic connecting of links. But I don't 
find it, on the whole, better. Granted, I haven't actually used it and might 
think differently if I did. If Sphinx was the industry standard that everyone 
uses, that might make it compelling in spite of its problems. But it isn't, I'd 
never heard of it before your links. (Of course, that might just mean I'm living 
under a rock!)

I've seen all kinds of markup languages, starting with runoff in the 70s. I'm 
modestly familiar with runoff (did a term paper with it! that was the end of my 
typewriter), unix man, mediawiki, other wiki markups, reddit markup, javadoc, 
doxygen, Latex, html (of course), the crazy formats used in various web forums, etc.